UN Sustainable Development Goals – taking stock on campus

On the third anniversary of the UN’s blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, the Sustainable Development Goals, a ‘mini summit’ was organised jointly by the University’s Sustainable and Resilient Communities research cluster and Estates and Facilities department to look at ‘good practice’ on campus.

THREE years on from the creation of the United Nations’ Agenda for Sustainable Development, a research cluster at the University together with the Department of Estates and Facilities organised a ‘mini summit’ to take stock of some of the institution’s efforts towards the goals.

The event was initiated by Estates and Facilities Environmental Co-ordinator Emily Rye and Fiona Hesselden, a research assistant in the Sustainable and Resilient Communities research cluster, part of Huddersfield Business School’s Centre for Sustainability, Responsibility, Governance and Ethics (SURGE).  The event was opened and chaired by SURGE’s Director, Professor Paul Willis.  

Just over a month ago on 24 October 2018, the UN identified 17 universities around the world that will serve as ‘Academic Impact’ Hubs for each of the 17 SDGs.  They were chosen on the strength on their “innovative approaches and expertise” around a particular goal. 

The UN announcement, though not related, came on the back of an article published online by the THE World University Rankings which reported that it is developing a new ‘global university ranking’ that aims to measure universities’ success in delivering the Sustainable Development Goals.  The THE intends to publish the league table in April next year.

The University’s ‘mini summit’ was designed as a snapshot of some of the work undertaken that linked to just three of the Goals – SDG 5 Gender Equity, SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities and SDG 12 Responsible Production and Consumption.

Three members of academic staff gave an outline of their work in relation to each goal which was followed by talks from two of the University’s operational support areas and a student representative from a sustainability project run through the Students’ Union.

The academics were led by Professor of Social Work Adele Jones (SDG 5) who presented her work on the None in Three project, a £4.5 million initiative working to address gender violence around the world.  Environmental scientist Dr Rob Allen (SDG 11) told of the re-emergence of the geography courses as a study option at the University, whilst Professor of Sustainability and Ethics Morven McEachern (SDG 12) focused on responsible consumption and her work on a recent sustainable fashion project which looked for greater involvement from consumers.

All three echoed the cross-disciplinary nature of their work and that they firmly believed that education was the key to greater behavioural change.

Complementing the academic speakers, Head of Human Resources (Personnel Services) Ruth Sivori and Olivia Briddon, Senior HR Officer (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion), spoke about the University’s efforts towards Gender Equity (SDG 5). 

They confirmed the University’s campus-wide commitment towards achieving the Athena SWAN Charter – a standard designed to ensure gender parity across all disciplines and at all levels.  To date, the University has achieved an institutional Bronze Award, in 2015, but only the School of Applied Sciences has managed a faculty level award, recently collecting its Silver. 

The HR representatives also touched on the disparity level in the Gender Pay Gap and told the audience that efforts to bring balance on gender issues would be part of the University’s new Strategic Plan.

To meet the goal of sustainable purchasing, covered in SDG 12, the University issues a statement, revised annually, confirming its efforts towards sustainable purchasing, in particular to counter modern slavery.  Procurement officer Joe Byrne told the summit that all of the University’s 747 registered suppliers were obliged to offer details on their supply chain and to highlight any part that could be susceptible to modern slavery.

Joe went on to explain that a common misunderstanding of the procurement role within the University was that it was there to govern sustainable purchasing.  However, he confirmed that the team’s role was purely to promote good practice, and that budget holders had final say.  Thus, sustainable purchases may be the desired intention, but they may not always be the outcome.  As a route to better sustainable purchasing, Joe advised the use of the public sector purchasing consortium, YPO, which is known to make greater efforts to vet the supply chains of most public sector suppliers.

Biomedicine student Sam Tate is one of the Students’ Union’s Inspiring Future Leaders and he has been engaging with Huddersfield students to solicit their thoughts on environmental issues related to the University and to learn more about what the University is doing “to be greener”.  It is a project that he undertakes around his studies.

As part of this engagement process, Sam is going to try and meet as many students as possible by holding a stall in the many student communal areas across campus to solicit opinion.  His first yielded interesting results.  The thoughts, both good and bad, were many and varied, though the consensus of students felt that efforts were certainly being made in many areas, particularly in relation to recycling and the environmental nature of new buildings.  In a general poll, 71% felt that the University cared about the environment, though many would encourage more to be done.

Areas for concern centred on plastics and recycling, though students were also concerned about the lack of greenery on campus – specifically, the need for more trees.  On a different tact, there was much enthusiasm for more vegan options on the menus.